Plus One
by ailaalive
Summary: Preston was always the cautious one in his group of misfits from small town Ohio, but now this may have cost him his sense of belonging with his friends. He must do something to get everybody's attention. Take place 3 weeks after the end of Super 8.
1. Intro

**AN**: I saw Super 8 last week and it has been in my mind ever since. The actors portrayed such simple yet dynamic characters that captured my attention from the moment they appeared on screen. I knew before the movie was even over that I would end up writing a fanfic about it. This story will be primarily told from Preston's perspective. I felt like he didn't get enough attention during many parts of the story, but was still just as important as the other characters... so that's basically what compelled me to write from his perspective. Anyway I'll shut up and let you read now. I hope you like this first intro! Please leave me reviews telling me what you think. :D

Pairings in this fic: Charles/OC (Kendra), Alice/Joe

**INTRO**

Life use to be so much easier. Back before the train crash. Back before the alien. Back before our town burned. Back before my friends became part of the Fab Five without me.

The media was the one to come up with the nickname "Fab Five". My group of friends, which now includes Alice, make up this elite team. After "The Alien" had ascended into the sky, news personnel had rushed onto the scene to interview anyone they could find. That is when they first heard the amazing story (which would later be re-told over and over and over) of my heroic friends and their once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Since the three weeks that have passed, our once-quiet hang outs have been bombarded by journalists eager for their piece of the tale, hoping to discover some detail about the Fab Five no other media outlet had spoke about yet. My friends were labeled as heroes, and soon had fans all over the country. There were even rumors about international broadcasts being planned. Suddenly it seemed like the whole planet wanted to know Joe's favorite color, or Martin's shoe size, or what type of camera Charles had used when he shot the only surviving film of "The Alien". Once in a while a newscaster would try to talk to me, "the lucky boy who hangs out with the Fab Five", but only to ask questions about my best friends. I should be happy for them, and I am, but things just aren't the same.

Each of them had their own unique story to tell. Alice had been captured and held hostage by The Alien late one night and was rescued by her now-boyfriend Joe Lamb and their pyro friend Cary who had distracted the beast with small explosives he carried around. Joe quickly became known as the sensitive, brave, attractive boy who would risk anything to save a person in need, much like his father. Joe, Cary, Charles, and Martin shared a bond (that I was no part of) as they witnessed men being eaten alive by The Alien when they were forced to escape from the school bus they were being held in by evil Air Force marshals after breaking in the closed school and discovering the truth behind the whole operation. They would often re enact this event, leaving me out or asking me to play the part of the alien. The only time I truly saw the alien was on the stupid film from Charles' camera.

The worst mistake of my life was not going along with them on their hunt to save Alice. I hate being the reasonable, smart one in the group. I shouldn't have stayed behind in the shelter our town's population had been evacuated to. Even that idiot pothead got some recognition for taking them into town and not dying, even if he was stoned at the time. Martin gets so much attention because of his injury. His leg was hit with a bomb in the crossfire and random girls started paying him visits in the hospital after The Alien left, swooning over how "brave" and "courageous" he was. He still walks around with his crutches, even though I don't think he needs them, because people who never paid him attention before stop him in the streets to compliment him on the pain he took to help someone else. Cary is pre-occupied with his explosives, as always. He even has endorsements by several companies now! Executives from places like Fireworks USA and TNT Tyrants stop by his house to offer him commercial deals and give him free samples of their products. He usually accepts. He even has a billboard up in Cleveland.

Charles took video of the billboard as proof during his last trip up there. He also brought back other video proof... of his new, fancy long-distance girlfriend. She's an average girl with a few freckles and bright red hair. He met her at a film convention for young directors in Cleveland just a couple weeks ago and now goes on and on about how great it is to finally meet someone his age with "the same passion and dedication to film making as him" blah blah blah. Her name is Kendra. None of us have met her yet, but she sends him short letters and even calls him long-distance almost every single day!

Sometimes, I feel like I'm nothing more than a brainiac extra in my group. The Fab Five plus one. I'm that plus one people usually forget to add in. It's 1979 and we're starting high school in just another month. I don't want to go into high school being a "plus one". The guys try to treat me the same, but it's obvious there's something different about them that I just don't have. I need to do something to change this. I can't derail a train, or pull an alien from the sky, but there's got to be something. I just don't know what... yet.


	2. Chapter One!

**AN: **Thanks to anyone who read the intro to this story. I'm really excited about writing it, and I want you to tell me if you like it! (so please review?)

**CHAPTER 1**

"Girls Free Day!" Cary grinned as I pulled up on my bike to him and the other guys at our usual spot. I scanned the area and noticed Alice wasn't with Joe like we'd all become accustomed to seeing. It felt weird, like someone was missing, but only for a moment. I set down my bike and walked over to where they were all standing.

"You sure you can make it all day without your lover?" Martin teased Joe.

Joe rolled his eyes, "You sure you can make it all day without your mom?"

There was a round of _ohhhs_! Followed by Charles' smart remark, "I know _I _sure as hell can't make it all day without Martin's mom." Cary and I doubled over in laughter and Martin's eyes got wide. I wondered if I was the only one who noticed it should be more awkward for Joe to bring up people's moms after his had died only a few months prior. Maybe The Alien had helped him deal or something. Something else I'd never be in on, I guess.

Joe looked from Martin to Charles. "Dude, that's sick. I don't know what Kendra would say to that."

Cary's head whipped up, "Girls FREE day. No Kendra talk."

I cut in "No one knows what Kendra would say to that because none of us have even talked to her before. For all we know she could be fake."

Charles glared at me, "Man, shut up! Do you need me to go grab the film from my room? I totally will!"

"All of you shut up! Guys, stop talking about chicks!" Cary stood up to assert his authority, but he was really too short to intimidate any of us.

Martin threw his arms up in front of his body defensively, "Hey I never mentioned any girls."

"Cary is just jealous because he isn't gettin' any." Charles snickered.

"Neither are you!" Joe laughed at him. "Your girl is all the way in Cleveland."

I raised an eyebrow. "I really don't think Alice is that type of girl either..."

Joe shrugged in agreement. Suddenly an eruption of noise made us all go quiet. We turned to find Cary hunched over a growing burst of orange firecrackers. He looked up and smiled sweetly at us, "No more chick talk? You guys sound wacked."

"What do you think guys do, Cary? They talk about girls." Martin pointed out.

"It's only natural." I added.

Charles coughed, "Unless you're not into chicks."

Cary rolled his eyes, "You find me a girl that's willing to blow up her older brother's car and then we'll talk." And that's when it hit me. I couldn't believe I didn't realize it sooner. I wasn't going to get noticed by doing something good for people in town. That's what everybody expects me to do, anyway. I'm the good kid. In order to gain fame, I needed to do something dangerous. Something people wouldn't anticipate. And if I was going to achieve this goal, the one that would get me closer with my friends again, I couldn't isolate them. I needed them. I needed one in particular. I needed the most mischievous person we knew, the one whose face is on a billboard in Cleveland because of his erratic behavior. Cary.

"I'll blow up my brother's car." I offered to Cary.

Charles gave me a weird look. "Are you hitting on Cary now, Preston?"

"What? No, I-"

"Damn it!" Cary hit the ground with his fist. "These matches don't work."

"Does this mean we get a fire free day, too?" Joe sounded hopeful.

Cary glanced at Joe and then shoved an arm into his backpack that was sitting next to him. His hand emerged with a fresh packet of matches. "No way, I've always got extras."

"Put those away for now." Martin pleaded as he hobbled on his crutches.

Cary sighed. "Fine. It's time to go downtown now, anyway. Mr. Reynolds is reopening the ice cream shop today."

"They fixed up it already?" I asked with genuine surprise. I thought Mr. Reynolds had no money.

"Yep." Cary nodded. "Hey wait, how is Martin gonna ride into town with his crutches?"

"Well how did he get here?"

Martin stared at the ground sheepishly. "My mom drove me here."

Joe caught Charles' stare and forced back a laugh. "Ohhhh!" Charles covered his mouth, "and now we're back on Martin's mom!"

"Get off my mom!" Martin yelled. Charles burst out in laughter. "Wait, that's not what I meant. I mean, yeah, but..."

Cary sucked in a breath, "Yikes. Alright well dude you can just ride on the back of my bike." Maybe things were starting to get back to normal, especially without Alice around. Charles was being a jerk, Joe was going along with him, and Cary and I had to step in and help poor, defenseless Martin.

"Yeah Martin," Charles started "you'll be safe from your rabid girl fans that way. If any of them try to talk to you on Girls Free Day, you can just reach in Cary's backpack and distract them with his free explosives like he did to The Alien."

Cary zipped up his backpack, "Hey my explosives weren't free back then." And just like that I could feel the balance slip away. This was another one of those conversations that didn't involve me. I turned to Joe, the only one that ever sensed my displacement, but he was staring at some imaginary object in the distance as he daydreamt about Alice, or The Alien, or who knows what.

I didn't want to get left behind again so I picked up my bike and got on. "Alright guys, let's go."

The others turned to look at me. I may have read too much into their gazes, but they seemed the slightest bit annoyed with my interjection. I needed to find time to talk to Cary alone to plan something. Soon.

Charles hopped onto his bike, "Chill. We're coming."

After Cary was seated comfortably on his bike, Martin awkwardly tried to fit behind him and grip both the bike and his crutches at the same time. It didn't work.

"Preston can carry your crutches for you." Charles said to Martin.

I was getting sick of him forcing everyone else to do things without even asking. "No way dude, you carry them!"

Charles gave me another ridiculous stare. "Are you kidding? I have to carry my camera!"

"We don't even need that camera today. We're not filming."

"Production value!" He reminded me as he tapped his head, as if I was some kind of idiot.

"What do you expect to find?"

"Seriously? A brand new ice cream shop amongst the wreckage of our half burnt town is a mint!"

There was no stopping Charles once he was determined, but I wasn't about to carry the fake cripple's crutches. Joe spoke up, "I'll carry them for you."

"Sweet." Martin handed Joe the crutches. "Thanks."

Joe nodded and tucked one under each arm. "Well, let's go."

**AN**: When you write you review tell me your favorite part of this chapter. I like to know what people enjoyed. Also, what do you think of the length of this chapter? Should I stay at this pace?


	3. Chapter Two

**AN: **I want to thank every single person reading this story right now. It means so much to me that you take the time to read my work. I absolutely love reading your reviews. I'm going to see Super 8 again tomorrow! I hope that gives me more ideas to add in the story. 

**CHAPTER 2**

"Remind me again why we're going all the way downtown for an ice cream cone. We could have just had popsicles at my place." Martin said to no one in particular as he adjusted his weight on the back of Cary's bike seat.

Joe juggled Martin's crutches as his bike went over a bump. "Because Mr. Reynolds makes the absolute greatest ice cream on the planet. It's the type of food that a prisoner on death row would ask for as his last meal."

Martin raised an eyebrow, "I really don't remember it being _that _good."

Cary immediately stopped pedaling and slammed his feet to the ground, surprising Martin and almost flinging him off the bike.

"Dude what the hell?" Martin flicked the back of Cary's head.

"Martin." Cary always had to act more dramatic than necessary. The rest of us slowed our bikes down, so that we wouldn't get too far ahead of them. We knew by now just to let Cary have his moments and then things would be fine. "Mr. Reynolds' ice cream is God in dessert form. It's the only kind of ice cream that I don't want to instantly melt with an open flame the moment I hold it in my hand." Cary picked his feet up and began pedaling again.

I couldn't help but feel like the four of them were all paired off again. Joe and Charles were about twenty feet ahead of me, and they were engrossed in their own conversation about their girlfriends. I wondered what it would be like to have a girlfriend. As I tuned out the other guys and rode silently on my bike, I began to imagine one in my mind. My girlfriend would have shoulder length brown hair. She would be friends with Alice and get along with all the guys. Charles, Joe, Cary, and Martin would all be jealous that I was the one who got to date her. Well, maybe not Joe or Charles since they already had girlfriends, but it wouldn't matter because she would think I was the coolest, bravest, and funniest boy she'd ever met. I wouldn't need a picture of myself on a billboard or on a newspaper article because she would keep a picture of me in her room and that would be enough for me.

I started to think up perfect names for my dream girl just as we pulled into downtown. Charles had spoken the truth earlier. The newly renovated ice cream shop stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the rubble of our battered town. Most of the debris had been hauled off in huge trucks (and not trains because the site of the unforgettable train crash is still closed off), and the fallen power lines had finally been taken care of. However, many areas were still littered with ashes.

The ash had been by far the worst part of the whole fiasco. Firefighters had to work for a week and a half straight just to contain and diminish the fire that the Air Force had set before anyone could even begin to think about clean up. Since half of our house had been destroyed during the operation, my older brother had to stay in my room with me. Late at night sometimes I would wake and find flakes of ash or soot creeping through the window in my bedroom. Once in a while I would walk over to my window in the dark, rubbing my eyes to stop a burning sensation caused by our polluted air and tripping over dirty clothes strewn out on the floor, and I would be able to see bright flames in the distance, slowly destroying the town I had grown up in. It was unfair. In the mornings, I would go outside and walk as far as I could without getting myself into trouble. I'd see buildings and trees with disheveled black marks across their sides, scars where the fire had lashed out on them. Every so often I would get ash in my eyes, distorting my vision and causing my eyes to swell up with tears. I'd squint and peer up at our messed up town, and swear that I saw The Alien strolling around eating my neighbors.

I hated The Alien. All of my friends praised The Alien after it left, called it misunderstood, abused and blamed the Air Force for the disarray Lillian was left in, but I blamed The Alien for disturbing our homes, setting our town ablaze (even though I knew the Air Force were the ones who did it), and altering our lives forever.

We pulled up to Mr. Reynolds' ice cream shop. It had no sign, but I don't think it even had a sign before The Alien and the fire. Mr. Reynolds was standing outside his shop, near the front door, carrying a gray paintbrush and wearing worn out overalls. He outfit was dotted with splashes of the white paint he was applying to his building.

When he saw us the corners of his lips turned up, "Hello boys!" He had always been a friendly, little past middle age man.

"Hi Mr. Reynolds." Joe greeted him.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of having the Fab Five here at my humble shop?" He continued to smile as he glanced at each one of us. His eyes lingered on me for just a second too long; I guessed he realized his mistake. I was no part of the Fab Five, and Alice was missing. Since he was a generous man, he didn't point this out.

"We came for ice cream!" Cary informed him.

"Ah, I see. Well I have to give our town heroes free ice cream of course." Mr. Reynolds fixed his gaze upon me once more. "And Preston," I sucked in a breath. Oh no. He _was _going to mention my non-hero status. "it's good to see you again." I exhaled and mentally gave him a huge hug. I didn't want to be an outsider today.

"Thanks." I grinned at him as he ushered us inside of our favorite ice cream shop.

**AN: **Please leave a review. How are you liking the story so far? Was there anything in this particular chapter that you enjoyed...? What do you think of the length? I love feedback.


	4. Chapter Three!

**AN**: Some of you said the last chapter was too short... so I'm hoping this one is better in that respect. Leave reviews! Thanks.

P.S. is it bad that I've seen Super 8 three times now? hahaha

**CHAPTER THREE**

The first thing I noticed when we walked into the ice cream shop was Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis playing from what looked like a new radio sitting by a window on the opposite wall. Inside, the shop was similar to how it had been before, just a few modest wooden tables with chairs and white tile flooring. We walked over to the glass case that held the different types of ice cream.

"So what would you boys like?" Mr. Reynolds stepped behind the counter and wiped his hands on a towel.

Cary pulled a twizzler out from his backpack and began chewing it as he looked through the glass. "Woah, you only have three flavors now."

Mr. Reynolds nodded. "Yes, I decided to just keep it simple this time. Though I can assure you the taste is just as good as before.

"Cool beans." Cary always ordered his ice cream first. I think out of all of us, he's the most in love with the ice cream Mr. Reynolds serves. "Can I have some chocolate?" Mr. Reynolds took a cone and scooped some chocolate ice cream into it. I was next and asked for vanilla. As the others ordered their ice cream, Cary and I started pushing two tables together and gathering enough chairs for the five of us. I realized this would be the perfect opportunity to set my plan into motion.

"Hey Cary," I said to him as I held my ice cream in my left hand and dragged a chair with my right.

He took a lick of his ice cream and then looked over at me, "Yeah?"

"Do you wanna stay at my place tonight?" Cary hadn't stayed at my house for a couple of weeks now. His house had been destroyed by the Air Force's bombs and his parents had been living in a cheap hotel room just outside of town ever since. Cary had been taking turns staying at our houses the past three weeks because the hotel room with his parents got cramped easily.

"Oh." He nodded. "Sure."

"Yeah I didn't know if you were already planning on staying somewhere else but you haven't been over in a while so I thought I might as well ask." I felt like I needed to explain because he still looked a little hesitant.

"Is your mom still mad about last time?" He licked his ice cream again.

I thought for a second, "Nah, she's totally over it." That was partially true, anyway. Last time Cary had spent the night at my house he accidentally set our living room on fire. "Just leave your lighters at the hotel."

"Preston, I can't do that!" He whined. "They keep me safe."

I sighed. "Alright, but just don't light anything on fire this time."

"I didn't mean to! I was just messing with my lighter and then I tripped."

"Just be extra careful. Don't use any fire in the house."

"Fine," he agreed. Martin, Charles, and Joe each took a seat at the table Cary and I had set up.

Charles lay his camera down. "Guys, I don't think we're taking advantage of our wrecked town enough. It's a mint! I need to film more around here."

Joe bit his ice cream, "I think you've been filming plenty."

"You can't just film scenery. You need to write a new script." Martin said.

"No kidding, Smartin." Charles turned towards him. "The problem is that I don't have any good ideas right now."

"I'm sure Alice wouldn't mind helping again if you need a girl for the movie." Joe offered.

Charles paused, "Don't get me wrong, Alice is a great actress, but I can't use the same girl for all of my films." Cary stared at the two of them. I'm sure the Girls Free Day bell was going off in his mind.

"You never had a problem with casting Martin in all of your movies." I pointed out.

"Yeah, but..." he tried to think of an excuse, "girls are different."

Joe shrugged, "Whatever."

"I want Kendra to be in my next film." We must have all given him an odd look because then he got defensive, "So what? She's my girlfriend for God's sake."

"How do you know she's not cheating on you?" Martin asked Charles.

I cut in, "She _is _pretty far."

"Of course she's not cheating on me! She calls me all the time." Charles was starting to get upset.

"But how do you know? Does she ever say she's not cheating on you?" I'd been wondering if she was cheating on him because she was actually really pretty. As annoying as Charles could get sometimes, I didn't want him to get hurt over a girl.

I guess Charles took my questions the wrong way because he stuck his middle finger into his chocolate ice cream and then reached over to spread it down my nose.

"Dude!" I stuck two fingers in my own ice cream and flung it at the striped shirt he was wearing. (It was his favorite shirt.)

Cary gasped, "Don't waste that heavenly food!" He grabbed my ice cream from me and took a bite.

"Cary!" I made a face. I hated when he ate my food, which seemed to happen pretty often.

He handed it back to me. "Sorry man, I'll use any excuse to eat more ice cream."

"Chompers likes to eat people's food." Martin explained, as if I didn't already know.

Cary kicked him under the table. "Don't call me that."

"Then stop calling me Smartin!" Martin argued.

"Forget it. Chompers is fine, Smartin." Cary licked his own ice cream cone again, giving up.

I stared at my ice cream cone. I really didn't want to eat it after Cary had put his mouth all over it, but Mr. Reynolds had been so nice about giving it to me for free and I didn't want to be rude. I crinkled up my nose. "Cary why'd you have to bite my ice cream?" He ignored my question.

Joe spoke up, "Anyway Charles, if you want to get Kendra to be your next film you need to make a script first so just work on that for now until you see her again."

"She might come with her aunt next week." Charles gave him a big smile. I wasn't used to seeing him this emotional over a girl.

"Really? That's awesome." Joe congraulated him.

Cary let out an over-exaggerated sigh. "Can't you let me enjoy my ice cream without hearing about Charles lip smacking with some girl?"

"I didn't say anything about that." Charles replied.

"It was gonna get to that point sooner or later." Cary said to himself. "Well, my ice cream's gone. Who's ready to go?" We knew better than to let Cary get too bored. With him, it was like always having a little kid around. And it was worse when he was hyped up on sugar. We Will Rock You by Queen came on the radio, replacing the Elvis song.

"I love this song!" I grinned and began hitting the beat with my knuckles on the table. Cary joined me.

Just then, a group of three teenage girls came in the shop. Their eyes quickly flickered over to our table, at first because of the noise Cary and I were making, but then because they realized who my friends were. One of the girls whispered to one of the other girls and the third girl waved excitedly to us. The two of us stopped knocking on the table and Martin shifted his gaze to see what we were looking at. He smiled and waved back at the girl. Cary rolled his eyes as the girl said "Oh my gosh!" to her friends. Great. More Martin groupies.


	5. Chapter FOUR

**AN: **I have a lot of readers for this story. THANKS. But also, I have a problem. After every chapter I get more and more and more notifications of people adding me to their author alerts or this fanfiction to their story alerts, but I hardly get any reviews anymore. I need you guys to review. It keeps me motivated and it's the only way I know people are actually reading this. I'm not trying to be a bother... but if you enjoy my story, could you please just leave a little note telling me? Anyway, hope you like this chapter! (; 

**CHAPTER FOUR**

The three girls got their ice cream and then walked over to our table. One was brunette, just like the dream girl I had thought of earlier. She was wearing black shorts and a pink blouse. She was really pretty, and when I saw her I got the urge to talk to her. The one that had waved at Martin had short blond hair and was just as tall as him. The other girl was shorter, with black hair. Cary crossed his arms and turned to me, "I swear, if Martin offers to let them sit with us, I'm leaving." Maybe Cary was so bitter because girls were always taller than him.

"Hi!" Martin greeted them. The black haired girl poked the blond one in the side and made a sound that was almost like a giggle. You would've thought these girls were meeting some celebrity the way they were acting, instead of just my best friends.

"Hello," The blond-haired one tucked her hair behind her ear. Some of it fell back into her face because it barely reached the bottom of her ears. "are you guys the Fab Five?"

"Stating the obvious, Kelly?" The black haired one rolled her eyes. So then the blond one must be Kelly.

"Shut up, Melissa." Kelly muttered.

Charles checked the three of them out, probably sizing them up. He leaned over and whispered to me, "Do you really think Kendra is cheating on me?"

I shrugged. "Maybe."

He sat back up. "I'm Charles."

The blond girl, Kelly, smiled. "I know." She pointed to her friends, "This is Melissa and Julie."

_Julie_. That was her name. I liked it.

Melissa spoke, "Let me see if I can get this right." She pointed to Joe, "You're Joe. You're Martin. You're Charles. And you're..." she stopped at me. "Um."

"Preston." I felt embarrassed.

"Oh. Right." She looked confused for a moment but then turned to Cary, giving him a dazzling smile, "And you're Cary."

"Do you guys want to sit here?" Martin offered, scooting his chair over a little.

"Sure!" Kelly replied, pulling a chair right next to his. To my dismay, Julie sat down next to Joe.

I was sitting between Charles and Cary. Melissa sat down on the other side of Cary, still smiling. He glanced over at me and mouthed, "What the hell?"

Melissa tapped on Cary's shoulder. "Why do you have a backpack with you?"

Cary took his denim backpack off his seat back and pressed it to his chest, as if guarding it. "'Cause I keep stuff in it."

"What kind of stuff?"

He released the backpack and unzipped it, exposing his collection of sparklers, explosives, matches, and other flammable items. He picked up a lighter and slowly clicked it on and off.

"Wow, you really carry that stuff around with you?" Her eyes followed the flame as he switched it on and off, looking a little nervous.

He sensed her fear and shoved it in her face, "Wanna try?"

She quickly retracted in her seat, "No, I'm fine."

"Cary, leave her alone." Joe interjected.

I looked at Julie. She was watching Joe. Damn. "Where's Alice?" Julie asked, noticing her absence. Though the way she was gaping at Joe, I could tell she didn't mind.

"She's at her house I think." Joe told her.

"Yeah. 'Cause it's supposed to be Girls _Free_ Day." Cary grabbed another twizzler out of his backpack and bit into it, pointedly annoyed.

"Cary, be nice." Martin pleaded. Martin may have a newfound confidence and sometimes cockiness, but underneath it he was still an insecure little boy.

Melissa did that almost-giggle thing again. "I'm sorry, are we intruding?"

"Yes." Cary uttered under his breath. He should be happy this Melissa girl seemed into him. I elbowed him in the side. He grabbed what was left of the ice cream cone in my hand and proceeded to eat it. Honestly, I didn't care. I didn't want it anyway.

"It's really cool to meet all of you guys." Julie commented. She had an attractive voice. I didn't know voices could be beautiful in that way. I kept my mouth shut, because I figured she meant it was cool to meet the Fab Five (minus Alice), not _all _of us (me.)

Martin finished up his ice cream, "You too."

Joe sat back in his chair. "What grade are you three in? I don't remember ever seeing you at school or anything."

"We go to the high school." Julie answered. "We're in the grade above you." It was weird that these strangers knew how old we were.

"Did you go to Lillian Middle School, too?" This was starting to feel like a one way conversation between Joe and Julie.

"Yes. I remember you. We had gym together when I was in eighth grade."

"Yeah," Melissa confirmed, "when Julie saw you on T.V. she went around to everyone saying 'I had gym with that Joe kid! We use to throw kick balls at him during dodge ball and now he's famous!'"

Joe laughed, "I wouldn't say I'm 'famous'"

"But Joe," Julie insisted, "you are."

Everyone was silent for a few seconds as we let this sink in. Mr. Reynolds had gone outside, so the only sound was the radio announcer saying "Hope you all are havin' a great afternoon. Here's a brand new jam for you - just came out this week." as Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough by Michael Jackson began to drift through the shop.

"Do you want to dance?" Melissa bluntly asked Cary.

He looked slightly shocked. "Um. Not really."

She seemed disappointed. "Oh."

"Thanks, though. It's not your fault; I just don't like to dance." He bit his lip. Everyone was watching the two of them. We could sense the sudden awkwardness. I felt bad for the Melissa girl, but Cary had already made it obvious he didn't want her around. Plus, we just met her and Cary honestly wasn't a dancer.

"Hey, Melissa, I'd dance with you" Martin jumped in, "if it weren't for my ankle." He held up one of his crutches to show her his exaggerated injury.

Melissa gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

Julie was looking at Joe again, and this time he noticed. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably and said "I have Alice..." sort of quietly. Charles acted like he didn't know what was going on and ate some more of his ice cream. I considered offering to dance with Melissa or Julie or even Kelly but I still wasn't sure if they accepted me as part of my own group since I wasn't in the Fab Five.

Kelly quickly finished her ice cream and then spoke. "I think we should probably go now."

Julie nodded in agreement, "Thanks for letting us hang out with you guys."

"It was really cool," Melissa added as she stood up. "I hope we see you around town sometime."

Cary stood up, too. Surprisingly, Melissa was barely taller than him. Maybe an inch or so. "Hey do you want a twizzler?" He held out one of the red candy vines to her.

"Sure," She took it thankfully.

We all said goodbye. Cary sat back down once the three of them had left. I lay back in my chair, "Well that wasn't weird at all."

Martin held up a napkin with pen marks on it and grinned, "Kelly gave me her number."

"No way?" Charles took the napkin from him.

"Dude she's so out of your league." Cary shook his head. "If only she knew your puking habits."

Martin snatched the napkin back.

"Are you gonna call her?" I asked.

"I don't know." Martin shrugged. "I've gotten a couple other numbers from girls but my mom won't let me call them."

Charles smacked his forehead. "Dude! Forget your mom."

"Why does Martin's mom always come up in our conversations?" Joe wondered aloud.

"We need to call these chicks up and have a party sometime." Charles told Martin. "Holy shit just think of the footage we could get."

Martin looked nervous, "What kind of footage?"

Charles hit his arm, "Not that kind of footage. Gosh you're such an idiot."

If there was going to be a party, I was in. Having so many people around would make it the perfect time to create my new image. I just needed some help from Cary, but that would be worked out tonight. For the first time in a few weeks, I was starting to feel excited. 

**AN**: REVIEW! Please, please review. I'd love you forever. By the way, if I were to give another one of the guy's a girlfriend, who should I pair up? (or make someone new for someone?)


	6. Chapter Five

**AN**: Guys. I have now seen Super 8 in theaters four times. I think I'm addicted. (I don't mind.) But I won't watch it in theaters again! Promise. I'll dedicate my time to finishing this story, instead. I'm sorry it's taken me five whole days to update. My 17th birthday is on Wednesday and things have been hectic around my house because I'm moving out in a month! Thank you to Pixie Longforest, DannysGhostWriter, Enchanted to meet you Alpha 02, Pigfarts is on Mars- xoxo, mitchelmussolover4, MissMalfoy224, and I love the Pyro for reviewing the previous chapter. (: Please review this one, too!

**CHAPTER FIVE**

The rest of our afternoon was pretty uneventful. No other random girls came up to us, Cary didn't light anyone on fire, and we didn't get any more free ice cream. Martin had to go home around 4 o' clock because his "stomach hurt" so Cary and I offered to ride him home on our bikes; I held his crutches this time. (Joe went over to Charles' to do some new script planning.) After we dropped the whining Martin off at his house, we rode over to the hotel Cary's parents were staying at to grab a few things he would need for the night. The whole way back to my place Cary had been happily humming and my mind was cluttered with ideas of how to ask Cary for help with my new bad boy image. I didn't want the other guys to know what was going on with me yet, so I would have to make that clear somehow.

That night my family sat around the dinner table, acting just as they always do. My dad had a copy of the day's paper in his left hand as he used his fork with his right, my older brother James was eating quickly so he could go back in town on a date with his girlfriend, and my mother sat properly with a napkin on her lap, periodically asking us pleasant questions about our day. I had pulled up an extra chair next to my own for Cary. When I told my mom Cary was staying for the night she tried to act alright with it, but I could feel the tension that she still felt about him setting our living room on fire. I hoped he didn't notice it. He was pretty quiet during dinner though, silently eating his chicken unless directly addressed. I probably should have asked her before I invited him over, but I tried not to think about it too much because I was already preoccupied trying to figure out what I was going to tell Cary that night.

I noticed Cary was done with his food and I was too anxious to eat anything else. "Mom?"

"Yes?" She replied.

"Can Cary and I go to my room now?"

She glanced at the backpack hanging from the back of his seat, undoubtedly wondering if there were explosives in there. Then she gave a small smile, "Sure honey, just wash your dishes first."

I nodded and pushed in my chair. I went to grab Cary's plate but he shook his head, "I've got it." We walked over to the other end of the kitchen and I turned on the sink. We each took a turn running our plate under the water. I dropped some liquid soap on our plates and we scrubbed them with sponges.

"I think your mom is still mad." He commented, swiping away some hair with his arm that had fallen into his face.

"She'll get over it." I promised and shut off the sink. I wonder what my mom would think if she knew what I was planning. "C'mon."

Cary followed me down the hallway to the room I was now sharing with my brother. James had left the house a while ago, so we would be alone. Cary flopped down on my bed and I sat down on the floor, my back against the wall. I took two Superman comic books off a stack I kept and tossed one to Cary. It'd be easier to ease into the conversation with him slightly distracted. Cary flipped his open and started scanning the pages. "So, what do you wanna do tonight?" he asked me.

"Um. Well there's something I actually want to talk to you about." I was starting to feel more anxious. I don't remember when I started feeling uncomfortable around my best friends like this.

"I've already read this one," Cary declared, setting it down on my bed. Damn, I even failed at distracting a boy with the world's shortest attention span. "What is it?"

I sighed and put my own comic book back on the stack. "Alright I'm not sure how to say this, but it's going to sound weird."

"Preston an alien ripped through our town a few weeks ago - nothing is going to sound weird to me anymore." He was staring at me now.

"Ok. Well. Do you remember the night where everything happened? You guys went to go save Alice and I stayed behind."

"Of course." He nodded and tucked a leg underneath him, sitting crisscrossed.

"That's just it. I stayed behind. I hear all these amazing stories about everything you guys did. You had an alien _attack _you on a bus. You and Joe went down underneath the water tower. Joe got picked up by The Alien. Martin got hit with a bomb. Charles had to save Martin. You and Joe saved Alice. I didn't do anything."

It was silent for a second. "You told Joe's dad where to find us."

"But I'm not in the Fab Five. No one knows who I am."

"Is this about what happened at Mr. Reynolds' today? You want creepy girls like Melissa to be all over you?" Cary made a disgusted face.

"No, I've been thinking about this for a long time now." He wasn't understanding. I had to make him understand.

"I don't get it." he affirmed.

"You guys just seem different. You still act the same, maybe it's that I'm different, I don't know. I feel left out sometimes when you guys talk about stuff from that night, or when journalists push me to the side just so they can talk to you." It felt good to finally let that out.

He was quiet again for a few seconds. "Ok. Do you want us to stop talking about it? The media stuff will die down eventually."

No, that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted to be a part of it. "I just want to fit in with you guys again. And I want people to know who I am."

"We can't go back in time and change it, you know."

"God, I'm not stupid. I'm asking for your help."

His expression light up. "You're coming to _me _for help? Awesome, but why?"

"Joe is busy with Alice. Charles is a dick. And Martin is... well, Smartin. Plus, you're the most badass guy I know."

Cary laughed, obviously pleased. Good, this was starting to go much better. "Bitchin'. So what do you need me to do?"

"I need you to help me raise some hell."

He grinned. "We're gonna get in trouble? Okay, I'm in."

"Mint!" Wow, I was starting to sound like Charles. "We start our planning tonight." And just like that, I knew that soon everything would be alright again.


	7. Chapter Six, dude

**AN**: Thanks to juicyjuice45, Pixie Longforest, LittleMissFirebug22, axela of azarath, DragonsAreAresome, Poisoned-Quinn, Enchanted to meet you Alpha 02, and I Love the Pyro for reviewing my last chapter! Having so many reviews means the world to me. (:

Sorry it has yet again taken me five days to update. It was my birthday! I was out of town expectantly because of it, ha. Joel Courtney AND Zach Mills wished me happy birthday on Twitter! :D I was beyond ecstatic. Anyway, here you go! Stuff is finally starting to happen. Tell me if you think it's moving too fast or slow.

**CHAPTER SIX**

My hands were trembling. It was so silent outside. I never realized just how damn quiet our town could be when you didn't want it to be. "Cary?" I whispered in the dark. "Cary!" Still no answer. Where the hell did he go? I knew he was testing me -he had even told me this would be a test. He said he would hide until I was finished. At the time, I was sure this wouldn't be a problem, but now I just wanted someone by my side. "Cary?" I tried one more time. Nothing.

I gazed up at the building in front of me. Mr. Reynolds' ice cream shop. It looked so shiny and new, especially surrounded by the wreckage of our town. I could sort of make out the spot Mr. Reynolds had stopped applying the new coat of paint earlier that day. It was hard though, since it was so dark outside. We'd left my house around 2:30 AM, so it was probably sometime around 2:45. That meant I'd been here less than 12 hours ago watching Mr. Reynolds proudly put that coat of paint up. I looked down at the small box of matches in my shaking hand and instantly felt guilt wash over me. I couldn't do this to Mr. Reynolds, the man who'd been so kind to me giving me free ice cream even though I wasn't in the Fab Five.

The Fab Five. How stupid. Who cared about the Fab Five, anyway? I started to feel confused. Why did it matter to me that I wasn't in it? Something that had seemed so important to me just a few hours ago didn't mean anything as I stood there and stared at the matches. I tried to clear my mind. I remembered Mr. Reynolds' friendly smile. Then I remembered that girl Julie's smile... directed at Joe. And that Kelly girl not knowing my name but knowing all my friends' names. Ugh. Ok, I couldn't back out now. But at the same time, I couldn't just ruin Mr. Reynolds' hard work. If I could just find a rock to throw through a window or something, maybe that would be enough for Cary's test. He wanted me to set the place on fire, but we could leave the future fire schemes to him. A broken window wouldn't be nearly as bad as a burnt building. I'm sure Mr. Reynolds had some kind of insurance to cover it, anyway.

I slid one of the matches out of the box and swiped it across the side, creating a small flame. I used the flame as a tiny torch to help me see. I crouched over and began walking alongside the frame of the building, searching for a rock I could throw at a window. Suddenly I felt something brush across my ankles, scaring me half to death and causing me to drop the already lit match and the box of matches I'd been holding. "Oh my God!" I yelled, unable to control my nerves.

The next thing I knew, Cary was at my side. "Dude what the hell was that?"

"I didn't mean to scream."

"Why did you?"

"I think some sort of animal ran by me. I didn't know what it was at first and it scared me."

He grabbed my arm, "Get a hold of yourself. If we're going to work together, you have to learn to be calm."

I gulped and nodded. "Yeah. I know. It's just, I don't think I can-"

"Holy shit!" He cut me off. "I didn't think you'd actually do it!"

"Do what?" I looked to where he was pointing and widened my eyes in horror. There was a wildly growing gathering of flames at the base of the wall, quickly eating away at the fresh paint.

"I had the idea of setting this place on fire when we were here earlier today but I never thought I'd actually be a part of..." Cary trailed off. "Hey Preston hand me another match, quick!" He eagerly held out a hand.

"I don't have anymore." Then I realized how the fire had grown so fast. The lit match I'd dropped must've fallen on top of the entire box of matches and set them ablaze. I began to panic. "Cary! What do we do?"

His eyes were fixed on the fire. "What do you mean? You did great. We don't have to do anything else." He turned to me.

"Cary we have to_ stop _that fire!"

He laughed, "Why? This is awesome! We won't be legends or anything, but this is a good start."

"Cary, what the hell!" I couldn't let the flames keep growing. I reached down and took off my shoe and began swatting at the fire with it.

Cary sighed and pushed me to the side. He pulled a water bottle from his backpack, ripped the top off, and poured the entire thing over the flames. When the water was gone, there were only a few burning embers left. He squatted down and pressed the palm of his right hand on the embers. Some smoke flew up.

"Dude!" I yelled at him.

"Shut up!" He looked up at me. "Do you want this fire out or what?" He lifted his hand and checked underneath, making sure all the embers were out. When he was satisfied, he shook his hand as if it hurt and stood back up.

"Is your hand okay?" I was worried.

"Yeah, it only stings a little." He grinned, "Why do you think I keep this white gauze around it? For times like these where I have to put out my mistakes."

"Oh." I felt stupid for being concerned for Cary when he so obviously had thought all of this through already. He was a pro and I was just a kid. I put my shoe back on.

"Well like I said, this is a good start. At least you set the fire, which is more than I expected on your first try."

With the fire out, it was really dark again. "I didn't mean to..."

"Sure you didn't. Everyone says that at first." He commented, clearly not believing me. It would be pointless trying to convince him otherwise.

"Do you have a flashlight?" I asked him. He set his backpack down, took one out, and handed it to me. Of course he did. I turned it on and pointed it towards the place the flames had been. There were burn marks creeping up the wall, but it wasn't too bad. After The Alien, burn marks like these were commonplace to the people in my town. They were everywhere. "Cary, do you think anyone will even notice this?"

He shrugged, "Probably. But not right away." We both sat down on the ground and I put the flashlight between us, facing up as if it were a lantern. "Ok let's get real for a second." Oh no. Cary was always such a goofball, so when he got serious, he _really _got serious. There was no middle ground with him. "What's more important to you, getting famous and becoming part of the Fab Five, or fitting in with your friends again? Not saying that you don't fit in with us -you totally do, but for some reason you think you don't."

I thought for a minute. Becoming part of the Fab Five was pretty unrealistic at this point, and the media wouldn't care about it anymore once the summer was over. I did, however, plan to spend my high school years with Charles, Martin, Cary, and Joe. "I don't know." I admitted.

"Ok." Cary picked up a lighter from inside his bag and began clicking it on and off as he sometimes did when he was thinking a lot. "Look, fire isn't going to solve anyone's problems here. Yeah, the shit is great, but in the end it does nothing. Our town is already trashed. Why do you think huge companies found it alright to give a 13 year old boy free explosives? They figured, what damage could I do to a town that's already damaged?"

Dammit. He was right, and I knew it. Somehow in the dim light he could see that I understood. He reached for the flashlight and jumped up, flinging his backpack over his shoulder. He shone the light in my face; I immediately threw my arms up to protect my eyes. "Now don't you dare tell anyone I got all deep on you. I'll deny this conversation ever happened."

I smiled. He'd been serious almost this entire night, but I didn't expect it to last. "I won't," I promised. I picked up one of the burnt matches as a souvenir and slipped it into my pocket. Then I yawned. "I'm tired. Let's go home."

**AN**: So what do you think? Review please!


	8. Chapter Seven

**AN**: Hey guys. Got extremely inspired all of a sudden and wrote this part. Read it, enjoy it, review it. 

CHAPTER SEVEN

The sound of my mom's voice woke me up in the morning. I rubbed my eyes and sat up in bed. My head was killing me. Why was I still so tired? I yawned and then remembered what had happened the night before. Cary and I's little excursion. I wondered what the burn marks on Mr. Reynolds' shop looked like in the daylight, and I wondered if he'd found them yet.

I glanced around my room. James was gone, and Cary was passed out on my floor. His mouth was slightly open and his arm was over his head. For a second I wasn't sure if he was even still breathing, but then I heard him snore. _Ha_. "Preston!" I heard my mom call. Oh, right, that's why I'd woken up in the first place.

"Yeah?" I yelled back.

"Come here, please." She shouted, so properly.

I threw my body back in my bed. _Ugh_. I pulled the covers over my head and shut my eyes. What time was it, anyway?

I began to drift back to sleep when I heard her again, "Are you coming?"

I sighed. "Yeah mom hang on." I got out of bed but wrapped my blanket around myself as I walked out into the hallway. Cary was still out cold.

I yawned again. My mother was sitting on the family room couch, so I sat in our arm chair with my blanket. "What time is it?" I asked her.

"Seven," she replied. "Now listen. Your brother, father, and I are going out of town on Friday." Today was Wednesday already, I realized. "His college called. He's got orientation this weekend. We won't be back until Monday or Tuesday."

"What?" I sat up straighter. "Mom, I don't want to go out of town right now." The last thing I needed was my friends distancing themselves from me even further.

"Calm down. You're 14 years old now. I think you're old enough to be home alone."

"Really?" I was surprised.

"Yes. You're a good kid." She smiled at me. That's the last thing I wanted to hear right now. I didn't want to be good. _Yeah Mom, I'm such a good kid that I snuck out last night and set Mr. Reynolds' building on fire. _"There's one rule though," she added.

"What?"

"Cary can't bring any explosives or fire stuff in our house while I'm gone. I'm surprised he made it this whole time without setting anything on fire." She laughed. Wow, she really had no clue about last night.

"Ok, that's fine." I agreed. I found it funny that was the only rule. She really trusted me. I started thinking of all the things she could have had as rules. No friends over, no girls over, no staying up to late, no crazy parties... wait. _No crazy parties. _I remembered what Martin and Charles had said the day before about a possible party. Oh my God. Mint. "Uh, Mom? I'm gonna go wake Cary up. Thanks so much!" I stood up really quickly and went to my room.

Cary was right where I'd left him. I set my blanket on my bed. "Cary! Cary get up." He didn't get up. I ripped his blanket off of him. I got on my knee and started pushing on his side. "Get up, get up."

"Huh? What? Get off me, bitch!" His eyes opened.

"Shh, not so loud! God, watch your mouth around my family." I sat down. "It's just me."

"Oh. Hey, forgot where I was." He explained. Yeah, ok.

"Shut up. Guess what!" I was really excited to tell him my new idea.

"Jesus, what got into you?"

"Guess what!" I repeated.

He sat up, "What, dork?"

"My family's going out of town."

"Congratulations. Have fun, man."

"No, no. Not me! Just my brother and parents. He has college stuff to do or something, but who cares! I have the house to myself."

"Woah, really?" He raised his eyebrows, "That's pretty cool."

"Yeah but Cary that's not the best part. I was thinking and I got an idea. We're gonna have a party."

His face lit up, "Holy shit, you're not kidding?"

"We're gonna do it." I nodded. "It's gonna be crazy."

"Is this part of your bad boy thing?" He asked me. It sounded weird coming from him.

"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged. _Duh. _

"So you really want it to be wild, right?"

Uh oh. He had an idea -I could tell. "Yes."

"Good. 'cause I have a plan, myself." He grinned.

A few hours later we were with the guys at our hangout spot again. Alice was there this time. Guess Girls Free Day was over. Cary and I had discussed our plans at my house before leaving. We'd even talked about how we were going to ease the other guys into the idea. Not that it'd be that hard. Charles would be in, Joe would go along with it to look cool for Alice, and Smartin would like the idea of having chicks over.

"Guys, I have something to tell you." Charles announced once we were all starting to get bored.

"What?" Joe asked, chewing a twizzler and holding hands with Alice.

"Kendra is coming to town."

"Awesome! When?" Joe seemed genuinely happy for his friend.

"This weekend. She's getting here Friday morning." Friday! She could come to the party! This day kept on getting better.

"That's really soon." Alice noted.

"I know! Isn't it mint?" Charles was obviously thrilled. "Her aunt actually lives right near here, so she's allowed to stay for a couple days."

"Hey Martin is your mom free Friday night?" Cary blurted out. This was the que. We were gonna tell them.

"I thought you weren't into chicks." Charles said to Cary.

Cary flicked him off and turned to Martin.

Martin gave him a weird look, "What the hell?"

Cary nudged my shoulder, "'cause Preston and I are gonna have a party."

Martin loosened up, realizing Cary was kidding about the mom thing. "For real?"

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"Really? Where?" Alice asked the two of us.

"At Preston's place." Cary grinned. "It's gonna be gnarly."

"But Preston's parents are uptight." Joe pointed out.

"They aren't gonna be there." I told him.

"They're going out of town?" Martin realized what we were saying. Wow, that was pretty quick for him.

"Yeah, and we've got big plans." Cary informed them.

"Kendra can come!" Charles interrupted, on board for the idea. Now time to tell them the best part.

Alice shifted her position on the ground. She really did have a good body. "What kind of plans?"

"Alcohol." There, I said it out loud. Now I had to go through with this, no backing out. Charles seemed immediately more interested in the idea, but Joe and Martin looked concerned.

Alice's expression didn't waver. "Where ya gonna get that from?"

"Don't worry about it. I've got it covered." Cary said.

I whispered to him, "Should we be talking about this in front of her?"

She gave me a glare. "I heard that. Just 'cause my dad's an alcoholic doesn't mean I can't handle any on my own." Shit. I hadn't even thought of that. Maybe this was a bad idea. "I was just gonna see if you needed any. I know where all my dad's hiding spots are in our house."

"Oh." Cary seemed taken aback. "No, we have plenty where I'm getting it. You sure you're ok with this?"

"Yeah." Her face softened. "If you're going to do this I need to be there, anyway. I have experience with it... and I'm guessing you guys don't." She glanced over at Joe. He still seemed unsure.

"So I get to invite the girls?" Martin asked.

"Yeah, we actually need you to." I answered.

"Sweet. I'm in."

"Joe?" I said to him. "What do you think?"

"I don't know if we should..." He looked at Alice. "I'm sorta worried."

"Joe it's fine. C'mon, even Martin is in." She rolled her eyes. "No offense, Martin."

"Uh." Martin responded.

"Well, if you say so." Joe would go along with what Alice wanted, and we all knew it.

"Good. Then we'll do it." Cary said, and the discussion was over. 

**AN: REVIEW**


	9. Chapter Eight!

**AN**: Okay don't forget about this story. I'm not done with it yet, I've just been really busy getting ready to go back to boarding school in twelve days. ahh. Please review so I know who's still reading. (or if you're one of the ones from Twitter reading, then tweet me telling me whatcha thought.)

CHAPTER EIGHT

That afternoon I found myself sitting on Martin's kitchen counter top next to Cary. Charles had gone home to do his chores and Joe and Alice went off somewhere by themselves. Alice had mentioned something about asking a few friends if they wanted to go to the party on Friday.

Cary and I were giving Martin a pep talk before he called the girls who'd recently given him their numbers to invite them to the party. His mom was at work, so we would be able to use the phone all we wanted to without her knowing.

"What if they don't want me to call?" Martin worried.

"Dude they gave you their numbers for a reason." Cary rolled his eyes. It was funny because when we were sitting on the counter, Cary wasn't that much shorter than me.

"Just do it." I told Martin.

"What if they're not home?" I couldn't help but notice that Martin didn't use his crutches in his house. In town he hobbled all around with them, but here he seemed just fine.

"God, have you never called a girl before?" Cary asked him.

"When have you?" I turned to Cary, surprised.

He shrugged, "Seventh grade. Forget about it. Martin c'mon, we need you for this party."

"Fine." Martin picked up the first piece of paper he had laid out on the counter. He began dialing the number and held up the phone to his ear. I'd never called a girl before. I wonder if that made me some kind of weirdo. Whatever. I reminded myself that after this party I'd have no trouble getting girls to talk to me.

"Hey do you think-" Cary started whispering to me.

"Shh! I wanna hear." I hit his arm. He shut up.

"Hello, Kelly?" We listened to Martin talk on the phone. Kelly was that blond girl we'd met at the ice cream shop the day before. My mind flashed back to Cary and I and the fire I'd set last night. It seemed like a lifetime ago. "Yeah, hi. Oh, it's me Martin. Yes." He laughed. "Yeah, I kept it... Well, the guys and I are going to have a party on Friday night."

"_**My **_party." I coughed loudly.

"Right, well actually it's gonna be at Preston's house. The guy that was with us yesterday." Ouch. "So can you come? Oh, sure you can bring Melissa and Julie!"

Cary shot me a horrified look. "Melissa?" He mouthed and wrapped his hands around his throat pretending to be choking.

Martin told Kelly where my house was, said goodbye and then hung up. "That went pretty well." He smiled.

"Yeah, now do the next one." I instructed him.

"Ok, ok hang on." He picked up another number. "Oh. I don't remember this girl's name..."

"So what? Just don't say it." I advised.

He nodded and dialed again. "Hey! Yeah it's Martin. Mhm. Oh I'm sorry. Cool. No." He frowned. "No. Yeah. Ok wait. We're having a party on Friday night. Yeah, at Preston's house." He raised his eyebrows and turned to me. "Yeah, him. Okay well can you come? Yeah bring whoever you want. Okay it's gonna be awesome. See you then."

"What was that about?" I asked him.

"She knows who you are." He informed me.

_How_? "What's her name?"

"Shoot! I forgot to ask her."

"I guess we'll find out at the party." Cary interrupted. "Hurry up and finish."

Martin picked up another number and gave another girl a call. It was much of the same (except this one didn't know me.) When that was over he dialed the last number.

"Hi, Rebecca." Martin greeted the girl on the phone.

Cary's head jerked up. "Rebecca?"

Martin put his hand up to shut Cary up. "It's Martin. Yeah, Martin from the Fab Five."

"How many Rebeccas are there in this town?" Cary asked me.

"I don't know." I replied.

Martin continued his phone conversation. "Do you want to come to a party at Preston's house on Friday night? It's gonna be sick. I'd like for you to come, yeah. We'll all be there. Oh sure you can bring your brother! Ok, great! I'll see you there, can't wait."

"You seemed to enjoy that." I commented.

Martin bit his lip, "Yeah, I remember she was really cool..."

"What's her last name?" Cary asked.

"I don't know." Martin shrugged.

"What did she look like?"

"Um..."

"Try to remember Smartin, c'mon." Cary urged him.

"Dude. I don't know. She had brown hair is all I know."

"You said she had a brother, right?"

"I guess so. That's what she just said."

Cary jumped down from the counter. "Well I hope she doesn't come to the party."

"What? Why does it matter to you?"

"Whatever. Don't worry about it."

What the hell was up with Cary? "Do you know her or something?" I asked him.

"If it's the one I'm thinking of, yeah. But seriously forget it; it's probably not the same one."

Martin and I exchanged looks. "Uh, ok."

"Well anyway, everything is going pretty smoothly." I noted. Joe and Alice were in charge of getting all the food, Martin did his part by calling the girls, Cary was getting the alcohol, Charles had offered to get the music since he didn't want us "dicks" to pick it out, and I was hosting the whole thing.

"Yep." Martin agreed.

Cary spoke, "Yeah you guys wanna go with me to check on the stash?" He was talking about the alcohol at his ruined house that we were going to use at the party. His parents had a large collection of alcohol before The Alien, and he swore that if we used some for the party they would never even know. He said they would just think it burnt up or got destroyed along with most of the other stuff in their house. It was a good plan, I had to admit.

"I don't think it's such a good idea to go down there." Martin said nervously.

There was a time I would've agreed with him, but I wouldn't back down any more. "Sure, why not?"

Martin looked over at me. Normally I would be the one to wimp out with him.

"You're gonna have to go with us tomorrow to get the stuff, anyway. Might as well go with us now." Cary pointed out to him. Martin reluctantly agreed.

* * *

><p>We arrived at Cary's old house. Despite the clean up crews that'd swept our town, his house was completely in shambles. Without even going inside you could see his old bedroom. He'd taken me in there once -everything had been burnt. I felt my hate for The Alien swell up again.<p>

"Looks like the thieves had their dirty hands in our stuff again." Cary spit on the ground as he climbed over broken drywall and entered the main hall of his house. Thieves had raided the abandoned homes in our town after The Alien. I felt bad for him, but if anyone could deal with all their stuff being taken away it was Cary. Martin would've had a nervous breakdown by now. We followed Cary to the stairs that led to his basement, which was apparently where the alcohol was kept.

He tugged on the door handle but nothing happened. "It's locked."

I panicked. If we didn't have alcohol for the party I'd be a loser after promising everyone we would have it. "You can't get in?"

"Calm down, Math Camp. I've got a key." Cary slid his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a brass key. _Math Camp_. The name hadn't bothered me before but now it seemed really obnoxious.

"Why do you keep a key to your parents' alcohol stash in your pocket?" Martin asked him.

Cary shrugged. "I need alcohol sometimes."

"You drink?" I was shocked.

"No." Cary rolled his eyes. "For explosives, dumbass."

"Oh." Martin and I both said in unison.

Cary led us through the door, leaving it open behind us. He wasn't kidding -there was a lot of alcohol in there. I honestly had no idea how much we would need, but we definitely had enough.

"The one safe place from the thieves," Cary tossed his key in the air and caught it, proud. "and after tomorrow I'll just leave the door unlocked and my parents will assume thieves took whatever we use for the party. They don't know I have a key."

I had to hand it to Cary; he was really devious. I smiled, knowing I'd picked the right guy to help me with my plan.

**AN**: Hey guys, pretty sure next chapter = party. /excited. If you want to be an extra/some random person at the party, leave your name in your review and let me know. I can't promise to use everybody, but I do need some random people for really small parts. Thanks! (:


	10. Plus One Chapter NINE

**AN**: You have no idea how much I enjoyed writing this chapter. Hope you like it. 

CHAPTER NINE

It was Friday already. The day my parents left with James, and the day of the party. We'd spent the previous day getting the final details pinned down for the party. It hadn't taken us long to ride down to Cary's home and grab the alcohol. We each grabbed a couple bottles of whatever we thought looked cool, shoved it in our backpacks, and brought it to my house. We'd stored it under my bed, and I'll admit I kept wondering when my parents would walk in and somehow find it. They would have grounded me, thrown it out, and forced me to lave with them this weekend. Maybe that would've been for the best, because the party would've been canceled.

But no, there I was, saying goodbye to my folks at the front door.

"Take care, honey. We'll miss you!" My mother gave me a hug.

"Stay out of trouble." My father reminded me.

My mom playfully hit him in the arm, "You know Preston won't get into trouble."

Dad smiled at me, "I know." My mouth went dry. I almost told them right then and there what I was planning to do that night.

James walked over, "Alright everything's in the car." He turned to me, "Hey, have fun this weekend. But not _too _much fun." He winked. What the hell? Did he know?

"We'll be in the car." Dad said and took Mom outside, leaving the front door slightly ajar.

"Have a good time," I said to my brother.

He laughed. "Cut the act. I saw what you have under your bed."

My heart sank. He _did _know. "When? Are you going to tell Mom and Dad?"

He shook his head. "You never do anything, Preston. Live a little. I won't ask what you're planning, but I wanna hear crazy stories when I get back."

I sighed with relief, but my heart was still beating faster than normal. "Ok. Thanks."

"Just don't get any girls pregnant or anything."

"James! I'm only fourteen."

He shrugged, "Whatever. See ya!" He patted my shoulder and shut the door behind him. I hoped he kept his promise and didn't tell our parents. I rid my mind of those thoughts though, because I had to go meet the guys. 

* * *

><p>Cary, Joe, Martin, and I were all anxiously waiting at our favorite diner, <em>Carols <em>(which had miraculously been untouched during the destruction of The Alien), for Charles to show up with his girlfriend, Kendra. He'd gone to pick her up and then was meeting us here. After weeks of hearing about her, we were all pretty excited to meet her. The two of them were a little late, so the we'd been talking about our expectations of Kendra.

"I think she's a robot." Cary declared.

"What?" Joe laughed.

"It's the only explanation as to why she's dating Charles." Cary grabbed a fistful of fries.

"Shh, here they come!" Martin nodded to the door.

We all watched in awe. Charles was walking into the restaurant and then stopped. He held the door open for a redhead girl behind him. I blinked twice. ..open. For a girl. I couldn't believe my own eyes. Kendra had cut her hair since we'd seen her in the video, and it was now shoulder-length. She brushed some hair behind her left ear and smiled at Charles. He said something to her and pointed at our table, which had fallen silent. She turned her head towards us and waved. The two of them began walking toward us, Charles respectfully behind Kendra. I saw him peek quickly in a glass panel they passed and smooth his hair down. Was he actually nervous? I glanced over next to me at Martin, whose mouth was slightly open. "She's prettier in person," he whispered and clamped his mouth shut.

"Hi." She greeted us when she finally reached our table. "Mind if I sit here?" She sat in the seat next to me before any of us could answer. Charles sat across from her, next to Joe.

"This is Kendra," Charles introduced her, as if we didn't already know who she was.

"It's so great to finally meet all of you," Kendra grinned, looking at each of us. I could've sworn her eyes lingered on me for a second longer than the others. Was it because I wasn't in the Fab Five?

"You too," Joe politely replied.

"See, Cary? She's not a robot." Martin commented.

Cary kicked him under the table. "Shut up."

Kendra sort of laughed. "Yeah, I'm human."

"So did you cheat on Charles while you were in Cleveland?" Cary asked. He was always so cross with girls around.

"Dude what the hell?" Charles glared at him.

Kendra laughed out loud this time. I couldn't help but notice she didn't answer the question, though.

"Just ignore them, they're stupid." I explained to her.

"Thank you," she smiled at me. "You seem nice."

For some reason, when she smiled at me just then, I felt a part of my insides smiling right back. 

* * *

><p>That evening we were at my house doing the last preparations for the party. Charles was trying out all of his CDs in my stereo, bragging about his music collection to Kendra. I heard her say something about "good soundtrack" and "next film". Martin was helping Joe set out the food, which was mostly just chips and twizzlers.<p>

Cary was trying to decide what to do with the alcohol. "Should I put it all out, or just some of it right now? Or should I give it to people as they come? Maybe I should keep it under the counter..."

I couldn't tell if he was asking my opinion, or just thinking out loud, so I said "Just do whatever you think you think is best."

He nodded without looking at me. I felt useless so I went into my room to get changed. _What do you wear to a party_? I honestly had no idea. I tried to remember the last time I'd been to a party. It was a birthday party, and was nothing like this. It had been for a girl who I didn't even like and she'd only invited me to get another present. I opened my closet and grabbed a couple shirts. After trying them both on, I decided on the more dressier of the two, a button-down gray one. I figured it'd be fine with the black jeans I had on.

I heard a knock at the door. I took one last glimpse in the mirror and then walked down the hall to the front of my house. Martin was opening the front door. Alice walked in with two girls at her side.

"Hello," I greeted the two girls. I didn't recognize either of them.

"This is Meghan and Danielle," Alice pointed to the two girls.

Kendra walked over and stood by me, leaving Charles to fawn over music by himself. I was about to introduce us when Kendra did it for me, "I'm Kendra and this is Preston." I gave her a sideways glance. I'd never told her my name.

"Hey Alice!" Joe came over kissed her on the cheek. When he'd first started her like that it'd seemed awkward, but I was used to it now. "I'll take this." He took the plate of brownies she'd been holding and walked with her to the counter.

Next, Cary was at our side with two drinks in his hands. "Hey ladies, do you want some drinks?"

"What is it?" The girl who was named Danielle asked him.

"Beer," he answered.

"Oh, no thanks. Do you have anything non-alcoholic?"

He frowned. "Yeah, punch. I'll get you some."

Meghan accepted one of the cups of beer.

"Hey Preston come with me," Cary instructed me and took me over to the big bowl of punch Joe had laid out by the food. "Hold this for a second." He handed me the remaining cup of beer and ran behind the counter. He returned a second later with a somewhat small glass bottle. He unscrewed the cap and scanned the room to make sure no one was watching. Then he quickly poured the clear liquid in the punch bowl.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, but I figured I already knew the answer.

He took the ladle and stirred the punch. "For the 'non-alcoholics'" he rolled his eyes and filled a fresh cup with the upgraded punch.

"What did you put in there?" I laughed.

"Vodka, what else?" He laughed, too and walked away to deliver the special punch to Danielle. 

**AN**: This next chapter is going to be SO FREAKING FUN TO WRITE. Seriously, I can't wait to put all of you in it. I think you'll love it. Review!


	11. Chapter Ten yes, already

**AN**: AH! I'm already at Chapter Ten today. This was so confusing-yet-fun to write. God I hope it doesn't confuse you. Warning: Preston is a lightweight. LOL.

**CHAPTER TEN**

CHAPTER TEN

Just after I watched Cary hand Danielle the modified punch I heard the doorbell ring again. For a second my pulse raced, and I was sure it'd be my parents coming home early to bust us. When I unlocked the door and pulled it open though, it wasn't. Instead, it was the three girls we'd met at the Mr. Reynolds' ice cream shop, Julie, Kelly, Melissa, and two guys. My mind flashed back to the burn marks I'd left on the walls of the shop, but I forced a smile. "Hi! C'mon in."

Julie gave me one of her breathtaking smiles, "Thanks for having us over, Preston!" _She remembered my name. _

I gulped and nodded. "Uh huh."

"This is my brother Peter and his friend George." She explained to me, pointing to the two guys next to her. I let the five of them in to join the rest of the crowd and shut the door behind them. I took a look around the room. Including myself, there were now fourteen people. I began to worry, because I knew there were at least a few more girls on their way. What had I gotten myself into?

Cary walked over and slapped me on the back, "Dude chill out. You look so nervous. It's a party!" He handed me a cup with unfamiliar liquid in it. "Here, this'll loosen you up."

"What is it?" I asked.

He took of swig of his own drink. "Does it really matter?"

After he left I held the cup up to my nose and sniffed it. It didn't smell like much of anything. I'd never had alcohol before, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying theirs. I shrugged and took a gulp. I winced. It didn't calm me down, instead it burnt my throat and made me cough.

There was another knock at the door. This time it was a group of four girls. They all introduced themselves, "Hi I'm Mia" "I'm Cinder." "Gwen." "and I'm Alana." I smiled and let them inside.

I noticed two twin girls coming up the driveway so I kept the door open. I recognized them from school. "Hey Nichole and London!"

Nichole grinned, "Hey Preston! We're ready to party." She held up the thumb/index/pinky finger rock sign with her hand.

I could now hear Charles' music blasting behind me. He was playing some Aerosmith jams. "C'mon in."

That brought the total number of people up to twenty already. As I waited for the next group of party guests to show up at my doorstep, I took another sip of the rough drink Cary had given me. It didn't taste as strong this time, so I drank some more. _Shit_. I wondered what my neighbors would think if they saw all these kids coming to my house... _whatever_. I downed what was left of the drink and went to get some more.

I found Cary near the alcohol bottles like a guard dog, chatting with that Melissa chick he hated. He saw me and perked up, "Hey Preston! I gotta talk to you alone for a sec. Melissa, do you mind?"

She looked from me to him and drank something from the cup she was holding. She burst into giggles. "Sure, no problem hotshot." She winked at him and then walked away.

He gave me a quick, dramatic hug, "Man thanks for saving me! _Jesus _that girl is annoying. I thought she'd never leave. When she came over here I loaded her up with scotch, hoping she'd be more interesting when she was drunk. But no. Even worse."

I sort of laughed. Suddenly his hatred seemed pretty funny. "No problem, man." I picked up a bottle of beer and cracked it open. I didn't hear the doorbell ring over the blaring music, but I figured it must have because Martin went over and opened the door. He gave some girl a hug and let four people in.

I remembered two of the girls from school. One was MinJee, the only Asian girl in our grade at Lillian Middle. The other was Emily. I knew it was her even from far away because she was _always _with MinJee. The two of them had been best friends for a long time. The other two people were a boy and girl.

"Holy shit!" Cary yelled. He hit me on the arm and then ducked under the counter. "That's Rebecca! Don't tell here I'm here."

"The girl Martin hugged?" I peered down at him.

He didn't answer me, so I assumed I was right. "What the hell is she doing here?"

"Well, I guess Martin invited her." I replied. The guy that had come in with her must be her brother that she'd told Martin about on the phone a couple days before. 24 people. My house was so crowded, but I didn't care anymore. I remembered what James had told me, _"You never do anything, Preston. Live a little."_ That's what I intended to do. "You're on your own." I told Cary and took another swig of my beer before strolling over to where most of the guests were sitting in the family room on or around our couches.

I saw four of our friends from school, Adam, Paul, Kevin, and David. _When did they get here_? "Hey guys!"

Paul joyously held up his own beer, "Preston! Great party!"

"Thanks, man!" I toasted him.

Adam nodded in agreement, "Yeah dude. We all needed this after that Alien shit."

I toasted him as well and put my hand over my heart, "To the beast being gone!"

"Yeah!" The other two guys, Kevin and David, fist pounded me and toasted my beer too.

Through the window I could see a few more girls coming up the drive. I went over to the door and ushered them in with my beer, "Come, join the party!"

One of the girls giggled. "Are you drunk?"

I shook my head. I may have been blinking a few more times than I usually did, but I sure wasn't drunk.

"Alright then." The girl introduced herself, "I'm Carly and this is Dee, Alex, Nina, and Sinead."

"Hello to all of you. Now come in, come in, before the neighbors start to wonder." I urged them through a loose smile.

A couple of the girls laughed but did what I said. I shut the door.

Kendra ambled over to me and grabbed my arm, "Hey come hang out with us!" She led me over to my own kitchen table where Charles, Martin, MinJee, Danielle, and two girls I hadn't even realized were at my house were all sitting.

I turned to the two girls, "Who are you?"

"I'm Taylor and this is Cam." One of the girls answered me.

The guy who was Rebecca's brother overheard her, "Hey my name is Cameron, too!" He gave the Cam girl a high five and tripped. _Wow, he's definitely drunk_.

I took a seat at the table between Kendra and Danielle. I'd lost track of the number of people in my house, but it didn't matter. I was here, at my home, surround by my closest friends. Great music was playing, everyone was happy, and I felt like I belonged.

When the chatter died down, Martin spoke up. "Hey, anyone up for spin the bottle?"


	12. Chapter Eleven

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

We all sort of looked at each other, not sure how to respond to Martin's question. Finally, the girl on my right, Danielle, spoke up, "Sure."

Kendra poked me in the side. "Preston are you gonna play with us?"

Charles leaned over the table a little, so I could see his face. "What the hell?" He mouthed behind Kendra.

"Uh, sure. Charles you play, too." I tried to alleviate the awkwardness. I picked up my beer bottle and drank some more of it. I felt my nerves start to subside. I'd never kissed a girl before. What if Julie was playing?

Martin turned to MinJee, "You in?" I remembered the two of them sometimes ate lunch together at school, because they had classes together and were sort of friends. I think he might have had a crush on her the year before, but she hadn't seemed interested in him. Maybe she was now though, since he was everybody's favorite hero. She nodded.

"Let's find some more people to join and then tell anyone who wants to play to come over here." Kendra suggested. We all agreed.

I went around the room searching for a few more players. I found Cary talking to that girl named Nina on the floor by themselves. Cary was talking to a girl without complaint? "Hey Cary do you wanna play spin the bottle?"

He looked up at me, "Gross man, I'm not into you like that."

Nina snickered.

"Shut up. A bunch of us are playing." I flicked his head.

"Is Rebecca playing?"

I shrugged.

"Sorry, can't take that chance." He declined my offer and went back to his conversation with Nina. _Weird_.

"Why don't you like Rebecca?" I asked him. I was sort of curious.

This time Nina answered my question. "You don't know? Cary and Rebecca were sort of... together at camp last summer."

_What_? Cary had had a girlfriend and never told us?

"Jesus Nina! You weren't supposed to tell them!" Cary hit her on the knee.

I'd forgotten Cary even went to camp for a couple weeks without us last summer. I glanced back at the table and noticed almost everyone was already back. "Whatever, everyone's waiting on me so we'll talk about this later."

"No we won't, Mom." Cary muttered and rolled his eyes.

When I got back to the kitchen table there were a bunch of people that had joined the group. We decided there was too many of us, so we sat in a circle on the floor instead.

Alice and Joe walked over, "Hey what are you guys doing?"

"We're about to play spin the bottle." Martin explained. "Wanna join?"

"Ok!" Alice grinned and we made room for her in the circle.

Joe gazed at Alice, "I don't know if we should play."

She tugged his hand, "C'mon don't be a baby. I don't care if someone else has to kiss you."

He reluctantly sat down.

"Who's going first?" Alice asked. There was a prolonged pause and no one answered her. She shrugged, "Fine. I'll go." She grabbed the empty glass bottle in front of her and spun it. It landed on that drunk guy from earlier, Rebecca's brother Cameron. Everyone just stared at her, waiting to see if she'd actually do anything. I guess Alice could tell that Joe was still really uncomfortable with the idea of kissing someone else so she just leaned over quickly and pecked Cameron on the cheek. "There."

"Hey, that doesn't count!" Martin insisted.

"Yes it does," Alice declared. "You go then, Smartin." She handed him the bottle.

"Alright." He spun the bottle and it landed on his Korean friend MinJee.

"Ohhh," a couple of the guys chorused mockingly.

MinJee smiled shyly at him. I could tell Martin had downed quite a few drinks already that night, especially once he ditched his crutches, so he didn't really hesitate. He was sitting next to MinJee anyway, so he just scooted over and planted a full on kiss on her. I was a little surprised. In the past he probably would have puked.

"My turn." Charles picked up the bottle and gave it a quick spin. It landed on Joe. Everyone went silent and the two of them just sort of looked at each other for a second with a disgusted expression. "What the hell? No." Charles picked up the bottle again and tried spinning it once more, this time with more force. It stopped and pointed directly at Danielle. Charles lingered and glanced at Kendra, as if wondering if it was ok to kiss another girl. Kendra was laying back on her hands completely at ease, and didn't seem to mind at all.

"So..." Danielle said, a little impatiently. "Something wrong?"

"No." Charles shook his head, "Nah, it's cool." He pushed himself over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She leaned in and kissed him.

It lasted a couple seconds longer than we all expected, so someone gave a small cough. "Ahem."

The two of them pulled back. Charles awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, "Um. Yeah."

Martin cut in, sort of slurring his words, "Hey MinJee and I are gonna go dance. So see ya guys." He helped MinJee up and she followed him over to the other side of the room where people were dancing in pairs and groups.

"I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor was playing throughout the house. Charles shot up, "Who the _hell _said it was ok to put on disco?"

"Riley, disco is fun!" Kendra insisted and took his hand. "Come dance with me."

He shook his head, "I refuse to dance to disco."

I handed him the rest of my beer, "Drink this, man. You need to relax." I stood up and walked towards the dance floor. It looked like fun. There were a lot of girls swarming Cary, and surprisingly I remembered most of their names: Alex, Taylor, Cinder, that weird Melissa chick, Nina... He wasn't really dancing though. Just shouting over the music and talking to them with a drink in his hand.

Our guy friends from school, Adam, Paul, Kevin, and David all had girls with them as well. "It Takes Two" started blaring from the speakers and everyone seemed to be paired off. I was alone at my own party.

Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and it saw it was the girl named Sinead that I had met earlier. "Do you want to dance?" She yelled over the music.

I nodded and accepted her offer. Nobody really knew this, but I was a pretty good dancer because I had to take some dance classes when I was younger for a bar mitzvah I'd been invited to one time. After that number was finished, the ever-so-popular Y.M.C.A. song began and suddenly the entire house was filled with people miming out those four letters with their arms. I don't think there was a single person at the party that wasn't dancing at that point. Even Cary and Charles were getting into it. A few people seemed to be confused from their alcohol intake and were yelling out the wrong letters at the wrong times, though. That was the first time I'd heard the "Y.M.C.A." start with a "Z. B. O. L. and R." all at the same time. No one cared though, because it was a party. A party that no one would forget. 

* * *

><p><strong>AN<strong>: Alright I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. You have NO idea how hard it was for me to use oldies tunes as the party music without throwing some 3OH!3 or DJ Khaled in there. Also, I had the sudden urge to listen to Rumors by Adele as I was editing through this chapter. LOL. Ok so leave reviews! The party chapters go by really fast, 'cause these are the ones I planned first when I was writing this story, ha.


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